Thirteen MS-13 gang members were charged Thursday for more than a half dozen murders, including the 2016 slayings of three Brentwood teenagers, authorities said. The brutal murders of 15-year-old Nisa Mickens and 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas last September sent shockwaves across the community and prompted pledges from law enforcement that the killers would be brought to justice. Five months later, they were, authorities said.

Suffolk County police will deploy license plate readers in Brentwood amid recent gang slayings in the community. The short-term goal is to use the devices to solve open cases, officials said. But ultimately authorities hope to “decimate the gangs that have committed these crimes,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said outside the department’s third precinct in Bay Shore Monday morning.

The issue of gang violence in Suffolk returned to the spotlight in the past two weeks when police discovered the remains of four teenagers, all of whom authorities suspect may have been victims of gang violence linked to MS-13, sources say.